What is Sufi literature and why does it matter?
Sufism, the mystical current in Islam, has exerted an important influence on poetry and other genres of writing in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu, as well as numerous local languages over a vast expanse of Asia, Europe, and Africa. The literary legacies derived from Sufism form an important part of the non-Western canon, with such major figures as Nizami, al-Ghazali, Attar, Rumi, or Yunus Emre,
Despite considerable scholarly interest in Sufism as a socio-political as well as religious phenomenon, its impact on literature has received no exhaustive treatment. At the same time, it is a promissory field of study for a scholar of world literature, because the genres, codified vocabulary, and imagery derived from Sufism bind together an enormous trans-cultural area, historically streatching from West Africa to Bengal and China. The importance of Sufi literature in global literary studies derives not only from its geographical extension but also from the ways how it makes the scholar rethink the very definition of literature. Constantly balancing on the brink of codified vocabulary and imagery, it forces multiple modifications in such concepts as originality, inventiveness, and the inexpressible.
If there is still no definitive systematization of Sufi literature, it is certainly not for lack of trying. Various poets sharing the Sufi imagery caught the attention of the 19th- and 20th-century Orientalists. Such figures as Ibn Arabi and Rumi were supposed to transcend the East-West divide building up the universal realm of imagination.
Despite considerable scholarly interest in Sufism as a socio-political as well as religious phenomenon, its impact on literature has received no exhaustive treatment. At the same time, it is a promissory field of study for a scholar of world literature, because the genres, codified vocabulary, and imagery derived from Sufism bind together an enormous trans-cultural area, historically streatching from West Africa to Bengal and China. The importance of Sufi literature in global literary studies derives not only from its geographical extension but also from the ways how it makes the scholar rethink the very definition of literature. Constantly balancing on the brink of codified vocabulary and imagery, it forces multiple modifications in such concepts as originality, inventiveness, and the inexpressible.
If there is still no definitive systematization of Sufi literature, it is certainly not for lack of trying. Various poets sharing the Sufi imagery caught the attention of the 19th- and 20th-century Orientalists. Such figures as Ibn Arabi and Rumi were supposed to transcend the East-West divide building up the universal realm of imagination.
